1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an introducing device system which reduces an amount of operation force for operating a bending operation device configured to pull a pulling member that causes a bending portion to bend.
2. Description of the Related Art
Endoscopes, for example, as introducing devices for introducing an insertion portion into a subject, are used in medical fields, industrial fields, and the like. In the case of the endoscopes in medical fields, observation, etc., are performed by inserting an insertion portion into a body. On the other hand, in the case of the endoscopes in industrial fields, observation, etc., are performed by inserting an insertion portion into a piping or into a construction such as an engine.
An endoscope generally includes an observation optical system at a distal end portion of an insertion portion. Furthermore, such an endoscope includes a bending portion that bends in up, down, left and right directions, for example, on the distal end side of the insertion portion. In addition, the endoscope includes, at the proximal end of the insertion portion, an operation portion including a bending operation device for causing the bending portion to bend.
A bending knob which is rotationally moved, an operation lever which is tilted, etc., are publicly known as the bending operation device. Such a bending operation device and, for example, a distal end bending piece constituting a bending portion are coupled to each other with wires as pulling members. In the endoscope thus configured, the bending portion is bent by an operator rotating or tilting the bending operation device with his or her fingers, to directly pull or relax the wires.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-325437 discloses the endoscope including an electric assist mechanism. The endoscope is provided with an operation instruction lever (corresponding to an operation lever 7 of the present invention), for example, as a bending operation device. The bending portion of the endoscope is bent by the bending instruction lever being tilted to bring an operation wire corresponding to the tilting operation, which is fixed to an arm member, into contact with a pulley rotated with a motor, to move the wire in the rotational direction of the pulley.
The endoscope disclosed in the above-described Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-325437 reduces the amount of the operation force required for the operator to operate the bending operation device by using the rotational force transmitted from the pulley to the operation wire when the operation wire contacts the pulley rotated with the motor as an amount of force for moving the operation wire.
In addition, in the endoscope disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-325437, when the distal end portion of the insertion portion contacts, for example, a wall or the like, during the bending operation, the operational feeling felt by the operator who operates the bending operation device changes to enable the user to feel that the distal end portion contacts somewhere.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-098078 discloses the endoscope apparatus which enables an operation input performed at the main body portion to be accurately reflected in the scope unit. In the endoscope apparatus, repetition of the loop from the step S101 to the step S105 shown in FIG. 8 in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-098078 causes the motor 61 of the bending driving unit 160 to rotate in conjunction with the position toward which the user tilts the J/S 41, to thereby cause the bending portion 113 to bend, or repetition of the loop from the step S201 to the step S204 causes the motor 61A of the bending driving unit 260 to rotate in conjunction with the position toward which the user tilts the J/S 41, to thereby cause the bending portion 213 to bend.
The endoscope apparatus generates a driving signal for operating the bending driving unit so as to control the bending speed of the bending portion of the scope unit based on information on the acceleration when the J/S is tilted, to rotate the motor and bend the bending portion.